February 19, 2020
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
(Ephesians 6:12-13 (NIV))
This is so hard to remember when we are faced with trials and tribulations from all sides. Sometimes it even feels that all that we do is thwarted by an unseen enemy who hates what we love.
Wait a minute!
That sounds just like Satan and he does hate what we love.
And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down–that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
(Revelation 12:7-9 (NIV))
Because of his rebellion against God, he and his fallen angels have been cast out of heaven. They hate God and desire nothing more than to usurp God’s authority. That is what happened when Adam and Eve allowed Satan to become the prince of this world. Our ancestors legally gave the authority that God gave them to Satan. Satan and his followers work in the shadows to deceive and destroy all that is God’s creation and all who call upon the name of the Lord. Just like we cannot see God, we cannot see Satan, but we feel the effects of his wrath against those who love God.
There is constant warfare in the spiritual realm because of these events. What happens in the physical world is only a shadow of what happens in the spiritual realm.
We are at war!
Our enemy cannot be seen, but we can arm ourselves with God’s armor and we can overcome the enemy.
Are you prepared for the struggle? Are you focusing your battle tactics where they belong? Are you ready and able to stand?
Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Posted by dailylivingministries
November 8, 2019
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living
They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.
(1 Peter 4:4 (NIV))
Do you know people like this?
Unfortunately, we all can probably rattle off more than a few names of people who make it their mission to ridicule us for our faith. They taunt us and try to get us to do the things that they find so appealing. They call us anything from chicken to holier than thou to Bible thumpers. Why do some people feel compelled to try to make those who profess a faith in Jesus do things that go against that faith? Sometimes it seems that they think it is their life mission to cause someone to fall back into sin!
Does this sound like the tactics of the enemy?
Satan uses all that he can to get believers to give up their faith. This also includes people that we know and people that simply come into our lives for a short time. Sometimes the attacks from the enemy come in forms that completely catch us off guard, but most of the time they come as occurrences, as temptations from people we know. We must turn the tables on these temptations and start to pray for those whom the enemy is using. They don’t realize the depth or the consequences of the activities that they use to temp and taunt us with.
But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
(1 Peter 4:5 (NIV))
There will come a time when they will have to account for everything that they have done. They will be found guilty of their sins. If they do not repent and accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, they will face the eternal consequences of their sin.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Romans 3:23 (NIV))
Our society has a term for when people we know try to get us to do something. Perhaps we, as the Body of Christ, in addition to resisting peer pressure, need to start applying some peer pressure through prayer for those who seek our destruction.
Are you ready to start applying some prayer pressure?
Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Leave a Comment » | don't be swayed by peer pressure, Godly priorities, it is a matter of priorities, peer pressure, power of prayer, prayer, prayer and petition, prayer is our weapon, prayer is powerful and effective, prayer of the righteous, priorities, the power of prayer, Uncategorized, what are your priorities | Tagged: abuse, accept, account, activities, appealing, applying, attacks, Be still, believers, Body of Christ, consequences, depth, enemy, eternal, faith, fall, give, glory, God, guilty, heap, Jesus, join, know, living, Lord, mission, occurances, peer, people, personal, pray, prayer, pressure, ready, realize, reckless, repent, ridicule, Savior, short, sinned, sins, society, start, surpised, tactics, taunt, temptations, time, turn, up, wild | Permalink
Posted by dailylivingministries
Daily Living Ministries 